Tranceding Time
by Mononoke-hime x sukai kurora
Summary: After the war, Uryu meets and old man with a stuffed lion in his shop, who tells him a story. "She will," the old man reassures him.


_Transcending Time_

Ishida Uryū was alone until the chime of the bell rang against the door. Without looking up from what he was doing, Uryū murmured a welcome as his thoughts remained on the past year. It was a year ago today that he had been defeated by Kurosaki in the battle across Yhwach's main castle. The faint scar on his hand reminded him of the wound that had almost killed him, Kurosaki's zanpakutō tearing him open from his left hand to his right foot. He could still see Kurosaki's pathetic expression of shock as the Quincy bled, and hearing Inoue- _san_ 's screams as he fell into an almost death-like state. As his vision became dulled, the young heir to Yhwach cursed himself, calling himself a fool for not realizing that the progenitor of Quincy had realized his betrayal.

However his betrayal might have looked to his former comrades, the Shinigami did not believe that the Quincy, with his pride and undisguised hatred towards Shinigami and his alliance with Yhwach, that he was innocent of the crimes he had committed. He had been stripped of his Quincy powers, and had his left had severed from his arm. Uryū still remembered of how the blood flowed from the gaping wound where his hand had been, the Captain-Commander General looking at him through half-lidded eyes. Uryū had wasted no breath, unlike a certain Shinigami, of explaining his innocence. They would never believe him, nor would they ever forgive him.

It was by some reluctance that Uryū had been allowed to be healed by Inoue- _san_. It took him all the willpower he had to not look at her. He couldn't. The dark-haired former Quincy had almost ordered Inoue- _san_ to stop healing him, leaving only a scar where the gaping wound had been. Uryū had not seen Inoue- _san_ since. For sure, when he pretended he was asleep in the hospital ward and then when he saw her at school, she was there. But he never approached her. He didn't approach anyone. It was as if the three years since Kurosaki had rescued Kuchiki- _san_ had vanished. Uryū found his dreams to be nonexistent. He lived day by day, moment by moment, numb to all else. It had been casually interrupted by Kurosaki's "death." Although Uryū had not spoken to the substitute Shinigami since of their fight, the former Quincy understood that the Shinigami felt most alive when he was fighting, when he was protecting.

The orange-haired young man felt lost in the human world. Uryū had been shocked when he had been invited to attend Kurosaki's "funeral." The former Quincy had simply frowned, remembering of the young faces of Kurosaki's younger sisters before his…betrayal. Would they know the truth? No, they wouldn't. Inwardly, Uryū wondered of Inoue- _san_ and wondered how she was feeling? Was she mourning that Kurosaki was no longer going to be in the land in the living? Was she – Uryū stabbed his hand with a pair of scissors, his face white and strained despite of the heated agony running through his flesh.

He could not think of Inoue- _san_.

He could not think of her smile or the dreams he once had. As he watched the blood soak onto the counter, Uryū thought, _I am only the present._

"Excuse me." Uryū looked up and saw and old man with white hair carrying something in his hand. Through his dark blue eyes, he could see that the extensive wrinkles in the man's skin, especially around the mouth and eyes. Someone who smiled quite often, the former Quincy thought. The old man was wearing inexpensive clothing, almost worn. His eyes, almost amber-brown smiled at Uryū as he handed an old stuffed lion to him. "Please young man, would you sew this for me?" His voice was quiet and soft, not rasping with age. "It has gotten quite old, I am afraid."

"Of course," Uryū stated as he picked up the stuffed creature. He stared at it, his dark blue eyes locking on the dark orbs. It looked, he decided, quite similar to Kon, the mod soul that had inhabited a similar stuffed lion. Uryū was unfortunately made to care for him, the mod soul demanding that he would be cared for properly now that "ungrateful bastard Ichigo had left him to his devil of a sister" and was currently in the upstairs of his shop, still and silent, accustomed to the Quincy's brooding manner in the six months they had been together. However, the lion had subtle differences. Its mane was light in color, and there was an actual tail. The limbs were large and quite fluffy, and it looked…less than a child's toy and more like a precious gift. Seeing of how the stuffed lion's limbs were frayed at the edges, and the mane had a large cut with stuffing coming out of it, Uryū supposed that the stuffed lion was very important to this man.

He quickly got out the needle and thread, and prepared to sew. The dark-haired Quincy thought that he would have, as always, his thoughts to himself as most of his customers were content to leave him alone. The old man, however, had different ideas.

"What is your name, young man?" Uryū looked up from his needlework and paused.

"Ishida." The needle went in. "Ishida Uryū."

The old man seemed to nod, and Uryū noted of how the old man's amber-brown eyes seemed to be searching for something in his eyes.

"I can tell you are hiding deep pain in your heart." Uryū almost dropped the needle, staring at the old man in shock as a smile ran across his face. "I am familiar with such pain, Uryū."

Hearing his name on lips of a person who did not hate him, of hearing it from a gentle soul – for the first time since Sensei's death, almost moved the young man to tell him the truth. But he balked.

"There is nothing to tell," the former Quincy almost said rudely. The old man didn't seem deterred, and in fact continued to smile at him.

"Would you like me to tell you a story?" he asked. Uryū didn't answer. "Good," the old man continued. A faint expression of relief was in his eyes. "It was a long time ago, and will be a long one, so forgive me if you do not understand." The old man explained to him that his name was Emiya Shirō, and that when he had been young, around Uryū's age, he had gotten himself involved in a war. "Not in the traditional sense," he stated with faint laughter as the former Quincy inwardly nodded. The bat-winged Espada was still in his mind. "It was called the Holy Grail War, and it could grant any wish of its participants." The old man continued to explain that there were seven mages, people who could practice magic, each with one historical figure from the past in order to obtain their wish. "Archer, Rider, Lancer, Assassin, Caster, Berserker…" Then, the old man seemed to pause. His amber-brown eyes lowered, and a faint smile caressed his lips.

"And Saber…" The name was whispered almost like prayer or a caress, and Uryū noted of the tenderness in his expression. _I know that well,_ he thought as he was reminded of Inoue- _san_ 's bright gray eyes. The old man continued to explain of how Saber was his Servant, and he her Master. The blond-haired emerald-eyed knight was King Arthur, the legendary king from sixth century England. "She was so brave, so beautiful, and so...amazing," the old man continued to speak as he told Uryū about the battles they had faced and their deep understanding of each other. "I loved her," he continued to say, and Uryū found himself thinking of the same moments he had felt the same for a girl who was beyond his reach. He closed his eyes, remembering of the moment when he found that he loved Inoue- _san_. The old man recognized the look in his eyes, but did not pry. He told him that although he fell in love with the English king, Saber was bound to her promise to her people. She had said goodbye to him day, seventy years ago, and he still remembered of how she had told him she loved him.

"I will find her again someday, and as long as we look at the same sky...I will always remember I loved a girl named Saber."

Uryū was finished with fixing the stuffed lion, but he found himself unable to break his hands away. Instead, he found himself explaining about what had happened one year ago. The old man, Emiya Shirō, listened, and didn't interrupt or ask any questions as Uryū began to explain everything that had happened. From his training as a Quincy under his grandfather and sensei, his sensei's death, his mother's coma-state form lying on the bed until she finally died three months later, the relationship he had with his father, and of his regrets, knowing that the man had loved him from sacrificing himself for the blow that was meant for him before his entire body was controlled by Yhwach, and finally…of the war and the three years he had spent with his former comrades.

"You love her," the old man stated. It was not a question. Uryū was stunned to find himself nodding and looking into the old man's empathetic eyes. "You love her as I love Saber." Uryū gaped when a soothing hand found its way onto his shoulder. The old man barely reached his chest, but his voice was clear and his eyes bright. "She will understand, if you have the courage to abandon your pride." The old man smiled, closing his amber-brown eyes as Uryū waited. "I have learned many things over the years, and I can tell that you are a pure person at heart."

Uryū gasped when he saw the old man's hand begin to smooth. The white hair turned red, and his eyes were as warm as ever as he stared at the stunned former Quincy. The old man was now young, as tall as him now, and Uryū tried to speak when he heard the voice.

 _"Shinpanaide,_ Uryū." The dark-haired young man continued to stare at the now-young man's face, realizing of that Emiya Shirō must have been the exact same as him when he had met Saber in the Holy Grail War. "I have a feeling…" Their voices were similar. Uryū could hear the same kindness in them, the kindness he only held for his Inoue- _san_. "You will make use of that stuffed lion."

"Wait!" Uryū shouted. "How can Inoue- _san_ accept my feelings, knowing what I did? How can she…" Emiya Shirō started to fade away, his hands slowly disappearing. _A ghost,_ Uryū thought, his dark blue eyes boring into the amber-brown ones. "How can she love someone like me?"

"She will." Uryū's stunned eyes continued to stare into the eyes of a human who had too been through so much. A fellow orphan…a fellow person who loved another beyond his reach…a person denied of the only dream he had…

Emiya Shirō smiled, for the last time, before his body faded away.

Ishida Uryū walked down slowly in Karakura Town. The street was quiet, the sky dark as moon shone overhead. The once-proud Quincy had his hands stuck in his pockets, remembering of what the ghost of Emiya Shirō had told him. He seemed so certain that Inoue-san would love him. _She does not deserve someone like me. I…should have told her. Trusted her with everything I had._ The wind brushed through his hair, caressing his bangs like a lover's touch. _I should have done something to stop her tears._ Uryū walked and found himself near Inoue-san's apartment. She still lived there, and the light was still on. His slim had reached for the stuffed lion in his bag, remembering of story that followed. _Emiya-san…_

Uryū stood in front of the door, uncertain what he should do. _Inoue-san…how could you possibly care and love for someone like me? It was thought…that I betrayed everyone, and I…have not contacted you in a year. Forgive me._ His dark blue eyes widened when he saw Inoue- _san_ in the doorway. For a moment, she didn't appear to move. Then, the dark-haired former Quincy found himself embraced, his lungs crushed, and tears soaking his neck as Inoue- _san_ held onto him. Uryū thought of the stuffed lion in the bag and the old man who had brought it to him. _For_ him.

 _Arigatō…Emiya-san._


End file.
